


He's a marshmallow

by just_liv



Series: Next Gen [3]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Mother-Son Relationship, Motherhood, Next Generation, Teenage Rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 08:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3283295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_liv/pseuds/just_liv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s all fun and games until your child becomes America’s most wanted . Or something like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He's a marshmallow

**Author's Note:**

> One last gift for my friend Lenon, now this one has been quite the challege. 
> 
> All the mistakes are mine and mine only. The same doesn't go for the characters, sadly. Unless we are talking about Kit. The Kit Puzzle belongs solely to this moi.

“You need to have a talk with your son.” Veronica doesn’t bother with hello, her cellphone stuck between her ear and her shoulder, hands busy with a camera and a job that still needs to be done.

“So now he is **my** son?” She can almost hear Logan’s grin.

He thinks he is so charming, but right now it’s just infuriating.

“Oh he is definitely your son! Where else would he get this constant need to defy authoritative figures?” Here comes the wife, she thinks to herself and adjusts the focus just slightly, ready to unravel one more case that will most likely result in a broken marriage.

“Yeah, you might wanna reconsider your stand on this one. After all, I wasn’t the only one spending some quality time behind bars back in the day.”

“Touché,” She sighs with resignation. The bastard does have a winning case. “So we are both responsible for our son’s bad genetic pool. Now you see, I told you mixing up our genes could backfire.”

“You were eight-months pregnant when you took that into consideration. A little too late to try and reconsider, don’t you think?” He points out and she would probably have an answer to that hadn’t the wife’s companion come to light.

_Hello Mistress_. Her camera starts working furiously.

Who said a slow Wednesday afternoon couldn’t hold any surprises? On the line, Logan goes on, unaware of what he might be missing. “It could have been worse you know?”

He is also right about that. The kid could be fun to have around. That is, when Veronica isn’t getting a call from the principal in the middle of the afternoon telling her that her son is going to get suspended for two weeks.

“Yeah yeah it’s all fun and games until your child becomes America’s most wanted at the age of twelve.”

The women kiss goodbye, a long and unrestrained kiss, and Veronica’s job is good as done. “Seriously though, when are you coming home? Principal Mitchell said something about this being his 3rd strike. Logan, he cannot get kicked out in the middle of the school year. It will be a nightmare!”

“Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. What was it this time?”

“I couldn’t get all the details on the phone. Something about hacking the school system? Trust me, it is bad.”

“Do they have any evidence it was him?” Veronica sighs, her camera forgotten on her lap as she just sits there. “I don’t know. Maybe Mac can help us figure out. But really, should this be the question we are asking? Are we going to be **this** kind of parents?”

“Hey--hey, I’m not saying that.” He gets defensive.

Logan always does when parenting is the subject. Especially when Veronica hints that they – he - may be spoiling the kid a bit too much. “Look, I got you, okay? I was just asking to be sure. We wouldn’t want our boy to be punished for something he didn’t do, that’s all. But if he did do…”

“Then hell hath no fury.”

“Yeah, sure! Bring it on. All privileges suspended indefinitely. No computers or video games. Not even cell phones. And to make sure of it--”

“I’ll call my dad, ask him to come by and keep an eye on his dearest grandson.”

“And we are going to have a long and serious talk with him about this. Don’t worry.” Logan seems so sure of it. She wishes it were that simple.

“There shall be consequences.” She says resolute, just making sure they’re on the same boat. “Our son won’t grow up to be a low-life delinquent, right?”

“Hell no!” Logan’s voice is firm, but only until he adds. “More likely a white collar criminal.”

“Huh, I hate you.” Veronica rolls her eyes and tries to remember why exactly she chose this idiot to be her husband and father of her offspring.

Right.

“When are you coming home? I miss you.”

“By the end of the week.” He sounds as relieved as she is. “Aaand there might even be a surprise for you. Wanna guess?”

“Is it a time machine? So I can go back and warn young Veronica Mars that motherhood is really not all what’s cracked up to be?”

“Almost.” He says with undisguised amusement. “It’s a box of _dulce de leche alfajors_.”

His accent is as ridiculous as one would expect.

She smiles. “Meh, close enough. Just don’t bring dad any of those smelly cigars ok? He doesn’t even like them, it’s just an excuse to spend all his free time doing his Godfather impression.”

“Now now, be nice with your old man. Don’t you think he’ll suffer enough with the company of our brooding teenage son for the days to come?”

“True.” Veronica thinks better. “You know what? Bring the good stuff.”

.::.

After wrapping up things, Veronica’s next stop is Neptune Elementary school, which is not by a long shot what she had programed for the day.

The talk with the principal is long and trying and Veronica has to put in use all of her diplomatic skills and some more.

Afterwards Mac calls Veronica back with a final sentence: guilty as charged.

So now, what usually would be a light meal accompanied by some easy-going banter (mostly on her part) and an endless list of bad puns (entirely on her part), is almost a torture, heavy with silence and building tension.

As to Kit, despite being the one responsible for this whole mess, he sure knows his hand on this whole passive-aggressive posture he’s got going for him.

Must be a natural talent.

With a long face he doesn’t really eat, only nibbling the food every now and then with disinterest.

Sitting across from him, Veronica has a chance to observe the boy swiftly between bites, hoping to get a glimpse of something she might have missed before, something that might explain what exactly is going through the mind of her son.

She hadn’t been kidding earlier before, when she mentioned the similarities between father and son.

Kit, at the age of 12, not only has the same bone structure of his dad, but also this serious expression that Logan still carries in some of his quiet moments.

His sense of humor, however, a lot more discreet than his father’s, is more aligned to his reserved personality.

As a child, Kit had been studious and shy, but still natural when it came to showing affection to the ones around him. He had never really been much of a talker, but he would laugh at Veronica’s witty comments or roll his eyes at his grandpa’s silly jokes with a smirk of his own.

What Veronica misses most is the tight hugs she would get from him whenever she’d pick him up at school or when she’d come home after a long day at work, or even when they were just standing next to each other.  

Puberty has changed that.

And it hasn’t even bloomed completely, which is one of the things that worry her the most.

Veronica isn’t sure when exactly it happened, but one day she kissed him goodnight and on the next Kit no longer welcomed any public displays of affection. Or laughed at whatever silly thing she would say just to see his dimples.

He doesn’t even seem to enjoy her company anymore. 

They used to be so close, holding the fort together whenever Logan had to go away for work. And now they are sitting at the table like strangers. And instead of making fun of silly old movies or just watching Scooby-Doo marathons way past bedtime, he much rather stay locked in his room, committing small – and not so small – infractions apparently.

Through her life, Veronica has gotten pretty good at catching whatever curve balls life will throw at her. But this one… She really hadn’t seen it coming. And if there is something she hates is being left in the dark.

“May I be excused” Kit asks politely, apparently unaware of whatever thoughts have been parading through his mother’s mind just now.

“Hold on,” She cleans her mouth with a napkin and the long sigh he exhales is a whole other test of self-control.

Has she ever been so inaccessible to her father? Or is this a reaction to mothers only: Maybe that’s why she is feeling so out of depth.

“Help me out with the cleaning, please.” He doesn’t argue; his face impassive as he does what he’s told, but Veronica can still tell something is off.

Maybe so can he, and that’s why this dance feels so awkward.

He washes the dishes diligently, and she dries them, patiently and in silence they remain, as if both were expecting the other one to make the first move.

“Did you get a call from my school today?” He asks without looking at her, attention fixed on his current activity.

“I did.” She replies simply, relieved for still having the upper hand.

It doesn’t mean, however, she will call it a victory just yet.

Kit may seem like he’s cooperating, but she’s seen this before. So she needs to choose her course of action carefully.

He may be good (so good for someone so young – and if that isn’t challenging enough, Veronica doesn’t know what else could be), but she’s been playing this game for far longer and way better.

It’s her job, for fucks sake.

(Interrogating suspects, not your teenage son, she can actually hear Logan saying, but right now, she’s not sure that there’s a line of any sort dividing these two).

“What did they say?” He risks a peek at her direction and Veronica plays ‘busy with the dishes’ in the meanwhile.

“What do you think?” She stops and finally looks at him, a perfunctory glare that almost dares him to say anything but the truth.

The kid stands for the longest second and then, folds.

“It was stupid, I know.” She could dance or rejoice in his admission, she could hug him and say Thank GOD.

She does neither, something else outranking her enthusiasm.

“Then why did you?” Call it a mother’s instinct. Or just plain curiosity, but she decides to press it anyway. “Didn’t you think there would be repercussions to your actions?”

“How grounded am I?” He asks with a grimace, waiting for the worse (as he should, she reminds herself).

“Oh, you’re grounded! Everything you hold in value now belongs to me. Including all of your possessions and also your freedom.” He doesn’t seem surprised. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

Kit finishes the last dish and closes the tap, resting his frame at the counter, almost as tall as Veronica (what Logan would say it’s not much, but still the kid is twelve!). Looking at his feet, with an unreadable expression obscuring his features he looks exactly like she remembers Logan from all those years back, when she could never get a clear answer, reason or motive for any of his stupid actions (mainly because he didn’t have them as well).

It makes her think she won’t get any of these now either.

But much to her surprise, he gives it a try.

“I’m still not sure.” Kit starts, digging for something inside and Veronica can really see the effort, so she waits for him. “I guess I just wanted to know that I could.”

“Well, you can.”

“Yeah, not so good. Otherwise they wouldn’t have caught me.”

Veronica shuts her mouth in a thin line, before saying things like ‘ _you’re only twelve and shouldn’t be so hard on yourself_ ’. Albeit this being the case, it doesn’t seem like something a mother should encourage.

Even if all in all it does make her a bit proud.

But that’s something she will never admit. (And boy if now she doesn’t relate a lot better to her father and what he has been through with her Nancy Drew inclinations).

Instead, she nudges him in the shoulder. “Just do your father and I a favor and don’t get expelled just yet ok?”

“I’ll try my best.” He agrees, logically and deep down Veronica knows this does not mean he will stop try proving himself. For all the traits he gets from his father: ears and toes, smirks and freckles over his shoulders, this one she has nobody else to blame for but herself.

.::.

By the end of the week, once all his privileges have been suspended and Kit is sentenced to a weekend long fishing trip with his Grandpa to a place with no internet connection, Veronica and Logan lay together in bed after some quite extraneous activities. 

Logan is playing with her hair while Veronica is wearing her reading glasses and getting acquainted with some texts that might give her an idea of what her son seems to love so much about computers (Mac’s rec, of course), when she hears him say. “You shouldn’t worry so much about the kid.”

Veronica pauses her reading then, expecting to be amused by whatever Logan is about to tell her. “Really? What makes you think that?”

“I’m actually surprised you haven’t figured out yet.”

She squints and raises an eyebrow, daring him to go ahead. “Oh really? Please do share this dote of wisdom if you may.”

There’s a pause for dramatic effects before he kisses her on the top of her head and says with a knowingly grin. “It’s pretty simple, you see. The truth is Kit’s just a marshmallow, much like his mother. That’s all.”

The end  



End file.
